UK Offence Report

False statements

regulation 7(1) of Agricultural Processing and Marketing Grant Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

1 If any person, for the purposes of obtaining for himself or any other person Community aid or any grant under these Regulations, knowingly or recklessly makes

a false statement, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
making a false or misleading statement
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly.

What would breach regulation 7(1)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Agricultural Processing and Marketing Grant Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
14 May 1996
In force from
24 June 1996
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, which come into operation on 24th June 1996, supplement as respects Northern Ireland Council Regulation (EEC) No. 866/90 (O.J. No. L91, 6.4.90, p. 1) as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 3669/93 (O.J. No. L338, 31.12.93, p. 26), which respectively contain measures for improving the processing and marketing conditions of agricultural products. The Council Regulation empowers the Commission to grant aid from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (“the Guidance Fund”) towards investments or projects which fulfil its objectives and towards which the Member States on the territory of which the investments or projects are to be located make a financial contribution. These Regulations— a empower the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland (“the Department”) to make grants towards expenditure in respect of investments or projects approved for the payment of aid from the Guidance Fund of amounts sufficient to enable those investments or projects to qualify for that aid (regulation 3); b lay down procedures for approval of expenditure for the purposes of Community aid and of a grant, and for the payment of such Community aid or grant (regulation 4); c confer on applicants a duty to retain and produce records of expenditure (regulation 5); d confer on authorised officers of the Department powers to enter upon land and to require the production of documents (regulation 6); e create an offence in respect of false statements made to obtain Community aid or grant (regulation 7); and f specify circumstances in which approval of expenditure may be revoked and Community aid or grant may be recovered (regulation 8).

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source